Agências de notícia e a imprensa de modo geral fizeram confusão com a lista por pura falta de cuidado, confundindo uma mera ordem editorial com ranking. O release divulgado pela Time dava os nomes dos 25 líderes considerados “os mais influentes”. Como se vê, Lula aparece aí na 13ª linha.

– Glenn Beck, media personality
– Ron Bloom, senior adviser to the president on industrial policy, United States
– Bo Xilai, secretary of the Communist Party of China Chongqing Committee
– Scott Brown, Republican junior senator from Massachusetts
– Mark Carney, Canadian central banker
– Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister of the Republic of Turkey
– Salam Fayyad, prime minister of the western-backed Palestinian National Authority
– Yukio Hatoyama, prime minister of Japan
– Sister Carol Keehan, head of the Catholic Health Association
– Jon Kyl, Republican senator from Arizona
– Christine Lagarde, minister of finance of France
– Robin Li, Chinese entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of China’s most popular search engine, Baidu
– Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 35th president of Brazil
– Jenny Beth Martin, tea party leader
– Stanley McChrystal, commander, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A)
– Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, United States
– Barack Obama, 44th and current president of the United States
– Sarah Palin, American politician
– Annise Parker, mayor of Houston
– Nancy Pelosi, 60th and current speaker of the United States House of Representatives
– Dominique Strauss-Kahn, director of the international monetary fund
– Manmohan Singh, 14th and current prime minister of the Republic of India
– J.T. Wang, chairman and CEO of Acer Group
– Tidjane Thiam, Chief Executive at Prudential plc
– Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and emir of Abu Dhabi

Aí a revista estabeleceu uma ordem meramente editorial, a saber (volto depois):

1. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
2. J.T. Wang
3. Admiral Mike Mullen
4. Barack Obama
5. Ron Bloom
6. Yukio Hatoyama
7. Dominique Strauss-Kahn
8. Nancy Pelosi
9. Sarah Palin
10. Salam Fayyad
11. Jon Kyl
12. Glenn Beck
13. Annise Parker
14. Tidjane Thiam
15. Jenny Beth Martin
16. Christine Lagarde
17. Recep Tayyip Erdogan
18. General Stanley McChrystal
19. Manmohan Singh
20. Bo Xilai
21. Mark Carney
22. Sister Carol Keehan
23. Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan
24. Robin Li
25. Scott Brown

Voltei
É conveniente ter um pouco de simancol, não? Ora, se era um ranking, então, para a Time,  o almirante Mike Mullen, chefe do Estado Maior Conjunto das Forças Armadas dos EUA, seria mais influente do que seu chefe: Barack Obama! Afinal, Mullen estaria em terceiro lugar, e Obama, logo abaixo. Considerando o ofício de cada um, a revista estaria afirmando que as opiniões do militar pesariam mais do que as do presidente dos EUA no concerto das nações. Seria o caso de mandar o comando da revista para o hospício.